Update Overview:Responsive Website (Change)The website's layout has been updated to work better on mobile phones and tablets, with special attention paid to the database list and info pages. The prototype itself has not been made responsive and while it certainly is playable, desktop browsers are still recommended.

Admin Panel (New)Developers and administrators now have access to a back-end admin panel where users can be moderated more easily. This means that problem users can more easily be disciplined, having their chat, community, and even gameplay permissions revoked for as long as is necessary.

Knockout Bonuses (Nerf)The potential knockout bonuses that can be applied to a given robot's base stats have been reduced. The previous formula allowed a Level 100 robot to multiply each stat by up to 5x its base value while the new formula caps that value to only 2x. Once a stat has reached it's maximum value it will stop receiving knockout bonuses. Please also note that it is no longer possible to use the stat pellet or capsule items to increase a robot's knockout bonuses - they can only be earned by landing the finishing blow on a target in battle.

Rebirth of Starforce (Buff)Starforce has (hopefully) been reworked for the last time, and now has a more valuable and balanced effect on all robots. Starforce power is now converted into Attack/Defense/Speed points for elemental robot masters or Energy/Weapons points for support robots.

Omega Influence (New)A mysterious form of energy known simply as Omega has injected itself into the prototype. Not much is known about the energy at this time, but it appears to affect players, robots, and even shop-keepers in vastly different ways. Omega appears to draw its power from a hidden sequence of letters and numbers somewhere inside the prototype, but that location remains a mystery to everyone.

Copy Abilities (New)A second-tier copy ability has been added to the game called Copy Soul that allows the user to copy the target's core type. This ability compliments the existing Copy Shot and both abilities can be purchased in Reggae's Shop after Dr. Light has unlocked at least 10 unique robots.

Core Abilities (New)Two new core abilities have been added to the game that can be equipped by any robot and change their typing based on the user's core type. Core Shield allows the user to generate a shield based on their core type, blocking 99% of all matching elemental damage. Core Laser fires a powerful laser at the target to deal elemental damage. The type(s) of these abilities are based on the user's core but can be influenced by having the user hold another core as an item. Both abilities can be purchased in Reggae's Shop after Dr. Wily has unlocked at least 10 unique robots.

Omega Abilities (New)Two new omega abilities have been added to the game as well, though I'd like to leave their exact mechanics a bit of a mystery for a while. Both abilities can be purchased in Reggae's Shop after Dr. Cossack has unlocked at least 10 unique robots.

Unlocking Robots (Change)Unlockable robots that you encounter in battle will now have colour-coded hearts hovering behind them to indicate their status. An opposing robot with its heart showing is a potential ally and can be persuaded to join your team under the right circumstances. Hearts become corrupted and fade to black if the target takes elemental damage, so neutral type abilities the only way to unlock these robots safely.

Skip Turn Button (New)The Skip Turn button is one of two new actions added to the options menu in battle. Use this button to skip your current turn and wait for the next round. This is useful when you run out of weapon energy and have no benched robots to switch with.

Charge Weapons Button (New)The Charge Weapons button is the second of two new actions added to the options menu in battle. Use this button to spend your current turn charging weapon energy for the next round. Using this option charges energy more quickly, but leaves the user open to greater damage from attacks.

New Robot Masters (New)New robot masters have been added to the game courtesy of MegaBossMan. As per usual, these robots are not unlockable and only appear as opponents in certain missions. They will be someday, but not now...

A complete overview of this update's buffs, nerfs, and new content is now available in the opening post of this thread. Thank you for your patience over the last 24 hours - these descriptions and screenshots took a surprising amount of time to put together. :P

The concept of Omega influence is a bit confusing, but once you know about how it works, it can lead to some strategy on robot movesets. I am still not sure why the shopkeepers have the influence too, but figured out how the robot and player influences play a factor. If story mode uses this new concept, some battles might get interesting...

Alright, FINALLY another excuse to play prototype. Also, I finally have another excuse to starforce grind as that will probably help me on the rank ladder. By the way, this "omega" stuff could be interesting. Plus, we get to have the power of the Unown on all of our robots? INSTRESTING!

EDIT: I noticed swift is a brighter color and that omega is seemingly different from user to user. By the way, why would I use the Recharge Weapons command when Buster Charge is a thing?

@MegaManfan21 : And rest assured you're not the only one. The thing is though, we've got bigger things on our plate and the development team would like to make creating and rounding out a better game first before we start adding content, that while certainly players would love to see, wouldn't be an efficient use of time at the moment.

As with everything in our development cycle, we can't necessarily answer when things will come out like new robots or the next update; this game isn't built on a specific schedule, it's really just a culmination of a large total of free time from our programmer and other miscellaneous help from other staff members. I'm aware that's not really a satisfactory answer, but I'm not going to mince words in saying it's a honest answer and it's just a matter of "Things'll be ready when they're ready." Thank you for continuing to play and enjoy the game though, it's very much appreciated! :D

@TailsMK4Omega : As per usual, I look to Pokémon for what is or isn't too confusing for people to use and enjoy. Hidden Power seems to get a lot of use in the meta-game in spite of it's complicated mechanics so I think Omega is just the right level of obscure to be kind of fun. :P You're also right in that once you understand how it works it can make your game very interesting, though I have a feeling one of its most interesting "features" remains a mystery to most players...

@RotomSlashBlast : Thank you for the positive feedback as well, it means a lot!

Regarding Swift, yes, it's been made a bit lighter to differentiate it from the Flame type and make it easier to tell them apart at a glance. It was suggested by TheDoc and it made sense so I included it in this update. I think the new Swift looks much better and matches the colours of several robot masters that are part of it so win-win, right?

Lastly, about the "Recharge Weapons", it's main difference is that it doesn't take up an ability slot - it's just part of the standard options menu. Now you can make the choice - do you want to recover ALL of your WE in one turn in exchange for a weapon slot, or do you want to recover SOME of your WE and use that weapon slot for something else?

@MegaManfan21 : I want them too, as do many other users I'm sure. Unfortunately, as MegaBossMan said above, we have other priorities at the moment that need to be completed first. If we were to release the MM5+ robot masters now most people would be disappointed with how unfinished they are. They don't have their own fields yet nor do they have their own weapons, mechas, or stage music. We're going to wait until the rest of the game developed more and the new robots have all their bells and whistles before we release them to the public. Sorry for the long wait, but thanks for playing just-the-same. :P

Core Shield and Core Laser are actually based on Copy Shield and Copy Laser, which were most likely the pre-alpha versions of these abilities.

Copy Shield would create a shield based on the target's core type when used by a Copy-core robot. However, when used by any other robot, would only create a barrier based on their own core type. The latter would have only been useful on bots such as Hard Man,, which, for whatever reason, were actually WEAK to their own type. However, with Neutral Cores, this would be TOO useful, since now they have resistance to the basic Buster Shot ability, as well as stuff like the nearly-useless Energy Break. Though, in a way, we can also say that Core Guard DID make it into the prototype. (remember when THAT was gonna be a thing?)

Copy Laser would be useless on Copy-core robots, though an attack based on the opponent's core would have been interesting. Plus, on non-copy cores, it would have been just another attack based on the user's core. Thank Arceus that Core Laser is also affected by any core the user holds, or adds Laser onto it if there IS none.

By the way, if Core Shield were to be used by a Shield-type or Core Laser by a Laser Type, what would the result be?

(Also, making Neutral compatible with other types for formatting reasons would be awesome. Though I can see what you're trying to do.)

@kqueen : The thing about Mega Man in this game is that he changes colour based on the type of ability used. Because Mega Ball is a Neutral-type weapon, Mega Man's colour doesn't change. I could technically make him look like he does in MM8 by changing the Mega Ball to something like Time / Freeze, but that doesn't make much sense. :P

@RotomSlashBlast : Thanks for posting the trivia! That's pretty observant of you to notice the origins of two abilities from so long ago. :P I feel like Core Shield and Core Laser are much more useful in their current forms, partially because they can now be equipped by any robot master, but also because you can actively change their typing by having the user hold specific core types. Are you about to face a powerful enemy that uses Laser type attacks? Have one of your robots hold a Laser Core, activate the Core Shield, and then suddenly you're near-impervious to its attacks. Also, to answer your question the two abilities' types would not change in that circumstance and would remain pure Shield / Laser type respectively.

P.S. The formatting and the code for the game uses the word "none" in place of "neutral". I'll try to update things so that both words are accepted but if you want to use that colour/type in formatting right now just use "none" instead. Sorry about that.

@CAMCARIO : Sansworthy puns aside, I like the way starforce was rebalanced, but too bad core throwing's gone. Speaking of which, whenever I picture Core Throwing, I imagine the core exploding into a massive amount of energy matching that element when it breaks.

@DarkRagnarok : I'm pretty sure this has been stated many times: The team is too busy with OTHER things that is needed to be done for the game to make more robots unlockable. I'm pretty sure Boss or some other mod can explain this more in detail, but that's pretty much the sum of it all.